Til Death Do Us Part
by nicfanz
Summary: To get what they want, they agreed to a temporary marriage. But what happens when it’s time for them to let go? SetoXMai
1. Chapter 1

**Title: 'Til Death Do Us Part**

**Pairing: Seto/Mai**

**Summary: To get what they want, they agreed to a temporary marriage. But what happens when it's time for them to let go?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its characters so don't sue me!**

**A/N: This is my first anime fic so go easy on me.**

**Seto- age 20**

**Mai- age 20**

* * *

Mai Valentine stared at the clock on the wall intently, listening to the ticking of the hands, an indication of how silent the room was. She was sitting in the office of her dad's lawyer. He had called to inform her that her father had died from a massive heart attack a few days ago, and she had to come so they can discuss his will.

Unlike many children, she did not crumble at the news of her father's death. She did not cry, mourn, nor did she felt like her life had ended. To others she might be heartless, but others did not experience her childhood, or lack of. Her parents were never there when she was growing up. They were too busy with their own lives to pay attention to her. Sometimes she felt they believed they did not have a daughter.

She was brought out of her thoughts when the door suddenly opened, revealing a man in his late thirties, wearing a black suit adorned with blue tie. He walked up to his desk and smiled at her. "You must be Mai Valentine. I'm Anthony Kingston, your father's lawyer." He extended his hand out to her and she shook it. "As you must know," he continued, "due to the unfortunate demise of your father, you are entitled to the assets mentioned in Mr. Valentine's will."

She nodded in acknowledgment.

Anthony opened the folder containing her father's will. "It states you will acquire two Mercedes Benz, one beach house, and 26,000,000 yen…"

She gasped inaudibly and her eyes widened. She knew her parents were well off but this amount of money was incredible. She no longer had to duel to pay her bills and can quit her odd jobs as a waitress and cashier. She began feeling the tingles of excitement but frowned when the man finished his sentence.

"…if you get married before the tender age of 21 and the marriage has to last at least a year."

She felt her stomach drop, and her mouth gaped open in shock. "W-what? I have to get married!" she screeched.

Anthony nodded. "I'm sorry, Ms.Valentine, but you must comply with the conditions of the will or the assets will be donated to charity."

She buried her face in her hands and groaned. Her 21st birthday was in a month, how will she find a suitable husband by then?

* * *

"What do you mean I have to get married!" the blue-eyed CEO yelled menacingly at the poor, stout man sitting on the other side of the desk.

"I-I'm sorry Mr.Kaiba, but looking over your father's will again, the fine print states if you don't find a wife before your 21st birthday, you will lose your position as CEO of Kaiba Corp," the frightened man stuttered.

The young CEO smirked and leaned back on his chair. "But if I'm not CEO, who will run my company?"

The older man hesitated before answering, "The next largest shareholder."

Kaiba's smirk turned into a deep frown and his piercing blue eyes darkened. Damn his father. Even when he is dead, existing somewhere in the depths of hell, he still managed to make his son's life miserable. No way was he going to let his "father" win. He worked too hard and too long to give up now; he was not going to lose it all. Sighing, he asked, "How long does the marriage have to last?"

The man gulped and replied, "A year."

Kaiba placed his head into his hands and groaned. He had two weeks to find a wife.

* * *

"Hurry up, Seto!" A raven haired child yelled, running towards the swings.

"Don't run, Mokuba," Kaiba slightly scolded, though a hint of a smile curved at the corners of his mouth. He rarely showed his emotions to anyone, a constant exception was his little brother. Sometimes he thought that was the only reason why he lived.

While his brother was playing on the swings, he simply sat down on the bench, looking at the cement sidewalk. His mind trailed off to yesterday's events.

_"…if you don't find a wife before your 21st birthday, you will lose your position as CEO of Kaiba Corp."_

How was he supposed to find a suitable companion in two weeks? There was no way he was going to make this ordeal public and print an ad in the paper, holding auditions for a wife. No, this matter had to be done in private and the sooner the better. He yelped when he felt two small arms on his shoulders. He turned around and saw a laughing Mokuba. "Mokuba, don't do that again," he admonished.

Still laughing, the younger Kaiba answered, "Sorry, Seto, I could not resist scaring you." When he saw his older brother turn away, lost in thought again, he frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Seto replied quietly.

"Seto!" Mokuba whined. "I know something's up. Tell me," he insisted.

Hesitantly Kaiba answered, "Father's will states that before I turn 21, I have to get married for a year or I will lose my position as CEO."

* * *

She walked along the "deserted" park soaking in the quietness of the scenery. This was a perfect place for her to think and gather her thoughts. Her mind wandered off to what happened yesterday in Anthony's office. She wanted the money but was she willing to sacrifice her freedom? Also, who would agree to marry her in such a short period of time? Suddenly she heard voices and she quickly hid in a bush. She raised her head slightly, just enough to make out two figures. 'Kaiba!' she thought.

"Father's states that before I turn 21, I have to get married for a year or I will lose my position as CEO," was what she heard. 'So he has to get married too. This is great. But wait—do I want to marry him, and will he agree to marry me?' One of the leaves on the bush tickled her nose and she felt a sneeze coming. 'Oh, no. Not right now.' She tried to control it but to no avail. "Ah-choo!"

"Who's there?" Seto demanded, looking around the park.

She knew she could not hide forever so she stood up slowly.

"Mai?" Both Kaiba brothers asked in shock. But Seto's surprise quickly wore off and he immediately growled, "What are you doing here?"

His menacing tone sent shivers through her body, but she masked her fear. Putting on a haughty expression she retorted, "What? You're not the only ones who could be here. It's not like you own the place."

He narrowed his blue eyes at her suspiciously. "And I see you chose not to walk out in public like normal citizens but decided to hide behind a bush."

She immediately reddened. "I…"

"How much did you hear?" He growled, eyeing her dangerously, as if she was a threat.

She looked him straight in the eyes and decided honesty was the best policy in this situation. "Enough…to know that you need help."

He turned away and snarled, "I don't need help—especially yours."

She boldly walked over and sat down beside him. "Look, I know you don't like me and I'm not crazy about you either. In fact you're a cold-hearted, emotionless, angry, arrogant—"

"Get to the point please," he snapped impatiently.

She sighed. "But you need a wife in order to keep your position. And I'm willing to be her."

He looked at her, suspicion evident in his piercing blue eyes. "And what's in it for you? And don't say nothing because I know you better than that."

He was right. He did know her and damn him for that. "Alright Kaiba, you got me. My dad died recently and the only way I can get the assets in his will is if I marry before my 21st birthday for at least a year." She looked at the hard cement sidewalk as she said that, and only looked back up when she heard him laugh harshly.

"I knew it. You would never help for nothing. Looks like we're both in deep shit," he muttered.

"So will you do it? Will you agree to this temporary marriage?"


	2. Chapter 2

"So will you do it? Will you agree to this temporary marriage?"

He saw her waiting for his response and he turned away. This was crazy. He and Mai? There could be no two people more wrong for each other. Maybe that was why it would make it so right. They didn't have to worry about love being involved.

"What are you waiting for Kaiba? Unless you prefer one of Yugi's friends," she sneered.

He frowned. Having Mai as a choice was odd enough, but Yugi's gang? Tea was pretty, but her friendship speeches would drive him up the wall. Serenity, besides being too young, was rather weak. He heard about how when she was dueling with Tristan and Duke, she couldn't keep from crying. Who cries in a duel anyways? Hesitatingly he replied, "Fine. Come to my house tomorrow at 9 am and don't be late." And with that he got up from the bench and walked away with Mokuba by his side.

* * *

It was 9 a.m. and Mai found herself in front of Seto's mansion. After ringing the doorbell, she waited patiently for the door to open. She didn't have to wait for long as seconds later, a woman wearing a maid's outfit appeared. "You must be Mai. Mr.Kaiba's waiting for you. He told me to inform you to go upstairs. His room is the first one on the right." 

Nodding, she walked slowly upstairs, each step seeming like an eternity. 'Boy, how long are these set of stairs? I feel like I'm walking miles here.' Finally she reached the hallway. 'First room on the right,' she repeated to herself. She came to a door with a label marked _Seto Kaiba_ on it. She raised her hand to knock on the door.

"Come in," said a gruff voice.

Opening the door, she stepped inside and saw Kaiba sitting on a large chair, tapping away on his laptop. "Kaiba?" she asked.

"Sit down," he commanded, not looking away from the screen in front of him.

She frowned and felt anger boil inside of her. No one told Mai Valentine what to do! She placed her hands on her hips. "Look Kaiba, you can't tell me—"

"Fine," he said simply. "You can find someone else."

Biting her lip, she reluctantly walked over to the chair on the other side of his desk and sat down. "So why did you call me over here for?" she asked quietly.

"Well if we're going to be married then there must be some rules," he declared emotionlessly.

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What sort of rules?" she inquired slowly.

He threw a thick packet at her that he obviously typed up himself. "You did this in one night?" she asked, amazed.

Smirking, he replied, "Yes, some of us can actually write."

Glaring at him, she returned her attention to the packet. Just from scanning the pages, she could feel herself getting a headache. There must be at least 1000 rules on here!

Smiling coyly at her discomfort he said, "Don't bother reading all those. I know you can't. Basically the important rules to remember are: One, you can't tell anyone about this, not even those friends of yours. Our ceremony will be done quickly and in private. Only god and the priest will be our witnesses. Two, you will sign a prenup so when the divorce comes, you won't clean me out. Three, you will work at Kaiba Corp. as my secretary—"

"I won't be your secretary!" she cried indignantly.

He smirked. "You don't think you'll be married to me and get a free ride, do you? You'll be staying at my house and eating my food that I work hard for."

She hadn't thought about the fact that she might have to live with him. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all…But 26,000,000 yen was a lot of money. Oh, man it was one of those moral dilemmasthat she usually saw on TV shows. Money or dignity…it was so hard but should be so easy. The right thing would have been to walk away, to never even come here in the first place. But nevertheless, here she was. "Fine," she muttered.

Smirking with satisfaction, he continued. "And the most important rule is the last one."

She turned to the last page, and scanned her eyes to the bottom of the paper. "Rule 1000: Don't fall in love." She looked up at him. "Well, that should be easy."

Nodding, he said, "Good, now that we have that covered, all you have to do is sign on the dotted line." He handed her a black pen.

Quickly scribbling her signature, she handed the packet and pen back to him. "So when's the ceremony?" she asked unenthusiastically.

"Well we have free time. How about right now?"

Her eyes widened. "Right now?"

He glared at her. "Something wrong?"

"No, it's just that, it's so sudden," she responded.

He gritted his teeth. "Well, I only have two weeks, so that doesn't leave much time does it?"

"Fine, let's get this over with."


	3. Chapter 3

"Will I be able to at least pick out a wedding dress?" Mai asked once they were inside Kaiba's limo.

He grumbled at her question. "Why do you need a dress for? Only I and the priest will be there. It's not like there will be a large crowd." He didn't even look at her when he spoke, just stared emotionlessly out the window.

His reminder of their situation stung her. Ever since she was little, she had always imagined what her wedding day would be like. The ceremony would be in a big church and hundreds of guests would be there. She would be dolled up in a beautiful white gown designed by some famous fashion designer and her handsome groom would be in a tuxedo. And most of all…he would love her.

The limo halted at a red light and she was brought back to reality. A tear cascaded down her cheek as she accepted her reality will never parallel her dreams. 'Mai, stop it,' she scolded herself. 'You are acting like some spoiled brat who can't handle obstacles in her life. If you can't even get through this, then what good are you?'

The limo stopped in front of an unfamiliar store. "What are we doing here?" she asked curiously.

He frowned at her. "You said you wanted a dress."

A smile almost curved at the corners of her mouth, but she refrained from doing so. "You didn't have to take my words seriously…"

"Just hurry up," he snapped impatiently.

They got inside the store and Mai went to the rows of dresses all worn by the mannequins. She gasped as she spotted a chiffon strapless gown with beaded re-embroidered lace. It was simply beautiful. She looked at the price tag and her eyes widened. 'Whoa…I've worn expensive clothes before, but this is outrageous.'

"Try anything on. I own this store," Kaiba said behind her, as if he knew what she was thinking.

She smiled, trying to hide her excitement. A worker took the dress off the mannequin and handed it to her. She murmured, "thank you" and headed to the dressing room. A couple of minutes later she re-emerged from the room and noticed all eyes were on her. She even noticed Kaiba staring, his mouth slightly open but he quickly closed it.

"So…what do you think?" she asked, twirling around in her lavish gown.

"You look…" one of the workers started.

"…like you can lose some weight," finished Kaiba, smirking.

"I'm not fat," she whined with a pout. People have always told her she had a "full" figure that they would kill to have. And here this rich CEO is basically telling her she needed to call Jenny Craig.

"Compared to the Titanic," he commented, still smirking.

"You!" But he already walked out the door.

* * *

She was beautiful, he admitted that. When she came out from the dressing room, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. The dress hugged her figure impeccably, accentuating her womanly curves. It was strapless, showing off her long neck and tanned skin. She was no short of perfect. But he quickly reminded himself beauty was only skin deep. And the most important feature, she lacked. In his mind, she was a typical gold digger. Probably spent most of her life looking for a rich man, marry him, divorce, and then take all his money and possessions. He was too smart to fall for that. That was why he rarely dated. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he went out with a woman. 

"You look…" a female employee began.

He couldn't resist. "…like you need to lose some weight." Of course, she was no where near fat, but when has he ever been nice to anybody?Beautiful girls weren't an exception.

He saw her pout and he grinned inwardly. Getting under people's skin was one of his many talents and he was proud of it.

"I'm not fat," she said indignantly.

She gave him another opening and again he couldn't resist a chance to put her down. "Compared to the Titanic." Before she could reply, he turned around and headed for the door. The last word he heard was an angry cry.

"You!" He couldn't help but smile at that.


End file.
